The Tale of a Painless Soldier
by Hiker Writer
Summary: The story of some of the soldiers that Galbatorix changed to make not feel pain. Their lives from the time the spell was worked until Nasuada is established as High Queen. Scenes with Murtagh, Roran, Eragon, Oromis, and their dragons coming up. Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1: Characters

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inheritance or the soldiers without pain. Those credits go to Christopher Paolini.**

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**Fodhrlif**

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I stood in my place as the army massed outside Urû'baen. The entire army had been summoned there, which must have been hard to hide, but apparently it was easier for Galbatorix to work his magic if we were closer to him. Not that most of us particularly wanted to be closer.

The most valuable, the strongest soldiers had been summoned into a separate section. Galbatorix was going to do something to us- to help us fight, the officers had told us. We were then sent here, and now Galbatorix was working his magic on us somehow.

I could hear him speaking from afar by the city's gates. He was chanting something. I didn't particularly like the sound of it. The man next to me, Thringabaen, and I had talked a bit, just about the army, our families, our plans from the future.

After waiting and listening for about three hours, he stopped. We were summoned back to camp. I was put in a tent with Thringabaen, and we had some time to talk before supper was served.

I didn't feel much different after Galbatorix's chanting. The people around me looked the same as ever. But then, after a moment, I noticed something: the cut on my leg had stopped hurting.

I turned around and looked at my leg. It looked the same, with the same nasty scab running up the back. But it didn't hurt anymore. I asked Thringabaen, "Do you feel anything different now?"

He replied, "Well, Fodhrlif, I had a bit of a bruise on my arm that's stopped hurting, but nothing much. You?"

"My leg's stopped hurting too," I answered, absentmindedly cracking my knuckles against my armored leg. I heard them crack, but I didn't feel anything. _Hmm… something's off with my feeling,_ I thought. I pinched myself in the arm- still nothing. I said to Thringabaen, "Punch me."

"What?" he asked me, confused and surprised.

"Punch me, hard as you can. Here, right on my arm," I said, exposing my forearm.

"If you're sure you need another injury." He punched my arm. I felt the pressure a little, and almost stumbled from the force, but it hadn't hurt.

"D'you hit it hard? I didn't feel it hurt."

"Yes, hard as I could. Here, you hit me."

I punched his arm, and when he was not rubbing it in pain, I said, "See? You can feel it, but it doesn't hurt like it should."

"No… Wonder what the king did with his magic."

"I wonder…" I answered.

Two men in the tent came over to join us. "Hi. I'm Dagdatia. Do you have any idea what Galbatorix did earlier?" said one of them.

"I was thinking he did something that now none of our injuries hurt. And I'm Fodhrlifa, by the way." I answered. I asked the other man, "And you are...?"

"My name's Rauthrfreth. I was thinking something of the same, as I've got a nasty bruise on my shoulder that's stopped bothering me."

"I'm Thringabaen. And when Fodhrlifa and I tried to hurt each other a bit a few minutes ago, it didn't hurt as it should've!"

"Yeah... Something like that, I guess. I have to say I don't mind," said Rauthrfreth.

"I wonder if Galbatorix will want to take this- this _curse_ off us after the war," I said, worried about how this world hurt our lives after the war.

"Probably not," answered Dagdatia bitterly. "Why should he care? Just another few thousand lives changed forever..."

"Who knows? If the king has the time and the energy, I'm sure he will," said Thringabaen. "He must know what he's doing, and if it helps us get home sooner, then all for the better!"

"We'll see about that... Though I'm with you that the sooner the war ends, the better," I stated. I was definitely a bit worried.

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**Author's Note**

**The names are from the ancient language, courtesy of the Inheritance Wikia:**

**Fodhrlif-"marked life"-the main character**

**Thringabaen-"sorrow of rain"-his friend throughout the chapter, thinks Galbatorix acts for the best**

**Dagdatia-"day of mists"-more confident man that does not like Galbatorix**

**Rauthrfreth-"hiding from misfortune"-Nervous, most injured**

**The accents were removed because in common naming, the words wouldn't be remembered properly. The only knowledge of the ancient language would come from healers, maybe helping at the birth, who knew a bit of the language, but certainly not very well.**

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**Reviews are extremely appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2: Fodhrlif

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inheritance, which belongs to Christopher Paolini. I own only my OCs.**

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**Fodhrlif**

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During supper, I talked with Thringabaen, Dagdatia, and Rauthrfreth. Thringabaen was completely convinced that Galbatorix would do everything he could to help us and would ensure our lives would recover after the war. Dagdatia spent the half hour trying to tell Thringabaen that Galbatorix did not care. I listened, entertained. I agreed with Dagdatia, but I did not particularly want to get in any trouble for talking insidiously. I remained pretty quiet while I listened to their arguments. They did not affect anything anyway.

That night, in the tent with Thringabaen and some other men, I slept easily. It had been a tiring day. I did not have to work to find a comfortable position and immediately fell asleep.

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In the morning, I talked to Thringabaen, Dagdatia, and Rauthrfreth during breakfast. This time, we chatted about little, insignificant things: our families, where we would get sent next, the quality of the food, how we slept. None of us were willing to mention the ease with which we all certainly slept. Another thing I noticed was that I did not miss my family nearly as much as I had at first. I wondered if this was just a normal thing with being away so long. I said nothing about that, because I did not want to appear soft and caring. It never helped in war.

After, when we lined up in our places, we were given our next assignments. The four of us were all sent to different places. I would miss talking to them a little, but not for long; we had only known each other for a few days anyway. They were just passing people on other paths through the crazy maze of war.

As it worked out, I was set to remain nearby and protect Uru'baen. The other three, however, were all sent off to different places. Thringabaen was going to be further protected in order to be part of a a "small, elite force for special duties". No further explanation was given. Dagdatia was off to accompany supply trains. I hoped he would not try to destroy or harm the supply trains; he would surely be punished afterwards. I heard that Rauthrfreth was going to be sent to Gil'ead. I expected that he would be fairly safe there; the Varden was to the south, not the north.

I was assigned to stay in the same tent, though other men would be joining it. My duties were to consist of keeping watch, patrolling, and waiting in hopes that it would be unnecessary to fight. In general, though, we would simply be waiting, though there was always a chance of being sent elsewhere as needed.

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That day, at supper, I spoke briefly with another soldier.

"Hello, how are you?" he said, since we were sitting next to each other.

"Oh, hi. I'm good; how are you?" I asked

"I'm pretty good. For the middle of a war, anyway," he answered in a rather dejected tone of voice.

"I'm Fodhrlif. What's your name?"

"I'm Nodan."

"Where are you going to be stationed?"

"Near here, by Uru'baen."

"Oh, me too!" I said. I was hoping that perhaps we could be friends, of a sort.

"Oh, okay," he answered in the same sad tone.

We continued eating our dinners.

"So, maybe I'll see you. I suppose we'd better head back to our tents," I said.

"I suppose," he responded.

"What tent are you in?" I asked.

"Number 83."

"Oh, me too! Do you know where it is?"

"It'll be quicker for you to show me."

"Okay, let's go then," I said, heading off through the maze of tents with Nodan.

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**Author's Note**

**So, hello! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review! Constructive criticism is appreciated, but quick messages are welcome too!**

**Next chapter, I plan to start using other POVs. The story will follow all the first four characters.**

**Thank you to Scarlet Thorrn for favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

**Thank you to the anonymous reviewer, Guest, for reviewing and the ideas! I plan to use them in a way... not exactly as you said, but they inspired me.**


	3. Chapter 3: Thringabaen

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inheritance.**

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**Thringabaen**

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I raced excitedly to my commander. I had been assigned to a special force to help capture Eragon himself! Only a couple hundred of us had been picked out for this. We were to have extra training, beginning immediately. Then, we were to travel on horseback to where the Varden were and attack. We only had two weeks to train and travel.

When I arrived, we were being lined up. After everyone arrived and that was finished, our new commander gave a short speech. He explained how we were unable to feel pain, and no one knew how this would affect us. I wondered how he had neglected to mention Galbatorix, because the king _had_ to know. He knew everything. The commander told us that we would be learning some new fighting styles and we would spend the next week practicing. Then, we would leave for our mission: to help Murtagh himself capture Eragon and Saphira!

For the next week, we practiced new techniques of fighting. Our new ability to not feel pain meant that there were a lot more ways to kill the Varden. We could focus on offensive techniques, so we practiced fighting each other and avoiding defense. The first day, we kept being defensive, because that's what we were used to. But by the second day, we were able to focus almost entirely on the offensive.

At night, we were all exhausted. We all fell asleep instantly. Those of us who were injured were even more tired than the others. Fighting really was exhausting work. At one point, I wondered if the spells that Galbatorix had put on us made us more tired, but I quickly discounted that because Galbatorix would never do anything that might make us less efficient.

In practice, we had to be careful. We were training to focus on killing people, but we had to avoid killing each other. We had to be almost constantly healed. We were also instructed not to befriend each other. Galbatorix had told the generals that it was easier to kill people if we trained ourselves to not become attached to people. We talked to each other, and worked together, but there were no friends and no enemies. If anyone became too close, they were sent to train and live with a different group.

In our training without protecting ourselves, a few of us died. On the fourth day, I accidentally killed the man I was working with. I had not known him well, so I was not very sad. It was just a part of our practice. Others died too. I heard a rumor that of the three hundred men that began in our group, only two hundred and sixty-eight were still alive.

Another rumor said that one man had requested to be put in a different group because he did not want the responsibility. Supposedly, the captain had begun cursing him, because we had been chosen specifically, and we would be betraying Galbatorix by doing that. I heard he was sent off to work with the prisoners with the Varden. He completely deserved it, I thought. The very idea that anyone would not wish to carry out Galbatorix's orders horrified me. How would anyone want to work against the king?

Finally, on the seventh day, we did not begin to practice fighting when we reported in the morning. Instead, we were lined up in front of several magicians. Each of us individually had to repeat the lines as the magicians gave them to us. We swore to follow all orders that we were given by Galbatorix or our superiors who were serving Galbatorix.

We were to be the perfect army. There would be no defection, no disagreement, no emotional involvement. Only orders given, orders followed, and enemies killed or occasionally captured. The Varden had those weaknesses: disagreement, dissatisfaction, sometimes an unwillingness to kill. We would easily not only beat them, but turn them over to Galbatorix so that he could decide what to do with any survivors.

Afterwards, I felt a little more weighted, though I was happy, I also found that I was completely incapable of disobeying any orders, no matter how small. When I was told to do something, I did it immediately. I was very excited that day. Since it was our final day, we rested that afternoon for the first time since being reassigned. We would leave the next morning.

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**Author's Note**

**Sorry for the slow update. I'll try to do better. But ****I'm disappointed in you readers. I didn't get any reviews at all last chapter. I know you're reading it, but no one reviews! I'd really love at least one review before I update.**

**And how do you like the POV change? Should I write about each character one at a time, or write the beginning of each of their stories, then the middle, then the end and rotate through characters. (I'll probably do that.)**

**Remember, read and review! I've got a whole platter of cookies here for reviewers...**


	4. Chapter 4: Dagdatia

**Next chapter!**

**Thank you to Scarlett Thorrn, the only reviewer. Thanks to her, I finally was inspired to update.**

**And by the way, I do not own the Inheritance Cycle.**

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**Dagdatia**

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Honestly. I am still horrified, and always will be, at how Galbatorix just does whatever he wants to us, with absolutely no regard with what we'll think of it, or how it will effect us. And when the commander explained it to us _after_, he barely told us anything! Not only that, but between what he said and what I've noticed, it runs off of our own energy!

After that speech, the day was almost over, so we had supper and then went to sleep. None of my temporary friends from the night before were in my section. Most of the men seemed pretty excited about our new "abilities". We spent a few days training and getting used to fighting and not feeling pain. Of course, we had to be very careful so that the healers could fix what we did to each other before we were hurt too badly. I heard that several people died in other groups.

Our group, since we were to spend the entire time traveling with supply trains, had a few extra things to learn. For on thing, we had to practice riding horses, and even fighting with them. We also learned various arrangements and ways to protect the wagons and the drivers.

At night, everyone was always exhausted. Those who were injured (but could not feel anything unusual, of course) tended to be even more tired. It a battle went on for too long, I expect that we could die from the injuries. Of course, Galbatorix probably thought of that but dismissed it as unimportant; sadly, he is rather intelligent.

On the third day, another soldier joined our group. I still had not befriended anyone at all, so I approached him at dinner.

"Hi," I stated confidently. "I'm Dagdatia."

"Hello. My name's Laufsblad," he answered quietly.

"You just got transferred here, right?" I asked, hoping to relax him.

"Yes," he affirmed, but though I waited, he did not explain.

"So… what was the problem with them?"

"Oh, it was an important group. I didn't really want the responsibility, and..."

"Oh. What were they going to do?"

"I'm not really supposed to tell you that."

"Ugh," I muttered, "so many secrets during wars."

"If you don't mind, can you tell me what you people are doing?" he asked meekly.

"Oh, we're going to protect all the supply trains going to the armies. Nothing too scary."

"Oh, good. I hope it helps Galbatorix."

"Perhaps. At least we won't be fighting in the main battles too much." The way I said it, it sounded like I just did not want to die, like every sensible man. But to myself, I meant that I would not have to fight directly against the Varden."

"Yeah. They always sound... messy. Frightening."

I had suspected it the whole conversation, and now I was sure. Laufsblad was just another coward. Without fear of Galbatorix, he was flee battle like a leaf is blown away in a storm.

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Three days later, or a week after being _changed_, we did not practice at all in the morning. Instead, we lined up in front of several magicians. They gave us lines and we were to repeat them. They were in their magic language, so we had no idea what we said. Supposedly, we were swearing to follow Galbatorix and to follow orders and other similar things, which would create the "perfect army", because there would be no disagreement, or something similarly stupid. I didn't really want to agree to anything without knowing precisely what it meant, but I would have no choice regardless. Nonetheless, I asked him, "What does that mean, sir?"

"It doesn't matter. Repeat: 'Eka weohnata.'"

"But what type of thing are we saying?"

"It's just swearing to follow Galbatorix, and to follow orders, and such."

"Yes, that's what we were told, sir, but what exactly?"

"Do you really need to know? Repeat: 'Eka weohnata.'"

Giving up, I simply repeated what he said. "Eka weohnata," I said, resigned that I would never get anywhere. The rest of the oath I simply repeated. I do not really remember the exact words, but it certainly was interesting to feel the sounds slipping over my tongue.

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We rested the afternoon after that. The next morning, we were awakened early. We were given horses to ride permanently after that. We were split into the groups and taken to the wagons that were leaving. Without even knowing where we were going, we left for the roads and plains and our first time on real wartime duty with our magically changed bodies.

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**A/N**

**Guys! Review! I'm getting so few reviews for this story. Again, I won't update until I get at least one review. And the more, the sooner. I will also appreciate it a ton if you favorite this or add it to alerts, but most especially if you review. It shows me that you care enough to take fifteen seconds, type something in, and click "Post Review".**

**I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5: Rauthrfreth

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inheritance or any aspects of it.**

**I know nothing about warfare so I'm sorry if everything I write is inaccurate- fiction doesn't tend to extent to common life.**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

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**Rauthrfreth**

That day when we received our actual assignments was, well, nerve-wracking. It turns out, I'm going north, to Gil'ead. That's kind of scary, because I came from south and Uru'baen is the farthest north I've ever been.

I spent the better part of the afternoon searching for tent 41. After about an hour, I found the section of tents 1-50. Then, I settled in (as much as possible). A couple of other people were already there. One said to me, "Hello! Are you being moved into this tent too?"

"Y-yes," I answered, nervous as seeing all the other people that had managed to find the tent before me.

"I'm Marcellus," said the same person, "Who are you?"

"I'm… Rauthrfreth," I said, nodding.

"Are you looking forward to going north? I'm from Gil'ead, so I'm rather excited to be going towards my home city."

I was in fact very nervous, but I certainly did not want to admit it. So instead I said, "I'm from the south, but it should be interesting. Is it very different there?"

"Well, it would be in winter, but in the summer it's just a little cooler and more damp. Much nicer than these desert-like places down here."

Finally, deserts were something I knew about. "If you think this is like a desert here, you've obviously never seen a proper desert. It's nicer here than in Dras-Leona, and that's on a lake!"

"Well, if you think that this is nice, you really can't have been north. Just hope we can win this war before winter, when it's really cold, and snowy."

"Snowy?" I asked, curious despite my desire to seem tough.

"You know, when the snow-," he explained as if it was obvious, but at my utterly confused expression, he smiled, paused, and went into more detail. "The cold, wet, white stuff that falls like rain covers the ground and you can see your footprints."

"Oh!" I exclaimed as a distant childhood memory came forward. "Snow! It can stick to the ground?"

"Yes, of course! And it gets very deep…"

"Really? Wow!" I exclaimed, forgetting all about seeming strong, in my excitement of learning and possibly even having a new friend.

"Yeah… But hopefully, this war will end quickly and we won't have to worry about that," stated Marcellus with finality.

After a pause, Marcellus asked, "Do you think it's time to go to supper yet?"

"It's probably a good time for us to look for where to find it," I answered. We exited the tent together and walked about. After a time, we found where to get our meals and sat down with some others to eat.

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The next four days were spent in training using our new ability to not feel pain. I suppose it was dangerous, and a bunch of people were badly injured, but it was amazing how nothing hurt! I can't say how great it was to get bruised and cut up a little and not have to feel any of it! I can just think of how many little fights I've lost because something hurt.

The ability to not feel pain is probably one of the greatest battle advantages Galbatorix could give us. I've even become a little more confident and less nervous- apparently it applies in part to emotional pain as well. As a minor drawback, we had to swear allegiance to Galbatorix or something, but it wasn't that bad.

The day after, we began marching to Gil'ead, along with the army that went to Ceunon.

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**Sorry it was a bit shorter. But I updated quickly! I'm going to try to be faster.**

**Please please please review, though. I didn't get a single review last chapter.**

**I'd also love advice on how to attract more readers. I have very few for this story. I LOVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. NOW GO REVIEW. It doesn't have to be long- a quick few words would be awesome! I respond to all my reviews for this story, so REVIEW!**


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